Thanks for the info Kris great info.Would make one comment Manchester U and Newcastle are not as popular as a password for one reason and one reason only....they are overshadowed by the great LIVERPOOL FC.......

"You'll never walk alone"

Mark the red

Punk101

05-16-2008, 07:51 AM

10. 'thomas' (0.99‰)

First off, at number 10, is the most common format of passwords - the name. Thomas is a perennially popular name in the UK (2nd most popular in 2000), so it is perhaps no surprise that it makes the top 10, with nearly 1 in 1,000 people opting for this ubiquitous forename as their password.

We can only guess that there are a lot of fans of Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Edison out there! The high prevalence of Christian names only further reinforces the fact that loved ones are a common choice when it comes to passwords.

9. 'arsenal' (1.11‰)

Football teams tend to be another popular choice, and the gunners fall in 9th place. This may or may not be reflective of the fact that the word 'arsenal' starts with a 4-letter swear word - another popular choice when it comes to passwords.

Arsenal are ranked 6th overall in average attendance rankings, and are the 2nd most popular football-related password.

8. 'monkey' (1.33‰)

Quite why the monkey makes it into 8th place is beyond me, but the fact that it's a 6-letter word (6 letters is a typical minimum length for passwords), is easily typed and is memorable probably helps cement its position as ideal password material.

Still, it's quite worrying that there's such a trend - perhaps the internet and monkeys are inextricably linked?

7. 'charlie' (1.39‰)

Another name - nowhere near as common a name as No. 10, Thomas, but it's our most popular name-based password overall.

Could of course, be a homage to a number of famous Charlies - Chaplin, Sheen, or those of a Chocolate Factory persuasion. Or, of course, it could just be the case that they're referring to it's slang usage.

6. 'qwerty' (1.41‰)

I wonder where the inspiration for this one came from? Perhaps when faced with a blinking cursor and an instruction to choose a password people will tend to look to the things closest to them - which would explain why 1 in 700 people choose 'qwerty' as their password.

5. '123456' (1.63‰)

Can you count to 6? It's the most common minimum required length of password - and the 5th most common password.

4. 'letmein' (1.76‰)

A modern-day version of 'open sesame' - and 1 person in 560 will type 'letmein' as their password. Quite why is beyond me.

I could be mistaken, but I have a hunch that 'letmein' has been featured in a movie or TV series - Fox Mulder's password from the X Files - 'trustno1' - also ranked quite highly.

3. 'liverpool' (1.82‰)

The most popular football team by some margin, Liverpool was the third most popular password overall. Does this mean that 1 in 550 people is such a devout Liverpool fan that they would be willing to entrust private data to the team they love?

Liverpool ranked 3rd in the average attendance ratings - leaving the 2 most popular teams, Manchester United and Newcastle United, out of the top 10 list - perhaps because they're too long and difficult to type.

2. 'password' (3.780‰)

Akin to pressing the 'any' key, when told to enter a 'password', it would seem that users aren't the sharpest tool in the box - with almost 1 in 250 people choosing the word 'password'.

1. '123' (3.784‰)

With nearly 4 people in 1,000 opting for a simple numerical sequence as their password (it should be noted that there was no lower length limit specified), '123' must be the first thing a lot of people think of when asked to specify a password. One dreads to think what their PIN number might be!

Conclusion

The above figures mean that 1.8% of people use one of the above passwords - and 6.5% of people share a password from the top 100 list. Although the remaining 90+% have less common (or even unique) passwords, the trends towards simplistic and guessable show that the average user cares less about choosing a strong password and more about memorability. Or in some cases, their football team.

that is pretty scary because i know many people who i am sure ARE using those passwords. that is pretty scary because we all know the hackers know this top 10 list also!

TVDinner

06-10-2008, 03:24 PM

that is pretty scary because i know many people who i am sure ARE using those passwords. that is pretty scary because we all know the hackers know this top 10 list also!

MADcHATTER

06-10-2008, 10:57 PM

In the earlier days of networking and internet connectivity there were 6 basic passwords that system admins used. These passwords or variations on them were responsible for hackers getting access to many networks and mainframes. They were

God
Jesus
Love
Sex
Money
Power

I myself got into a mainframe thru a Sysadmin login with John316 as the password (back when I was a young stupid hacker) and while I never did anything damaging, I used this to "educate" the SysAdmin on changing his password. This whole password was ego based and the SysAdmins were totally unaware at just how vulnerable their systems were.

I personally never used any of those, my passwords were generally obscure. Login attempts from single IP's were limited to 3 tries. One I used was a line from an old movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" because it was 17 characters long and I susbstituted some numbers for letters (this messed up most random character-generators of the day).

K1aatu8arradaN1kt0
Klaatu Barrada Nikto

Never got hacked!!!

MADcHATTER

06-10-2008, 10:57 PM

In the earlier days of networking and internet connectivity there were 6 basic passwords that system admins used. These passwords or variations on them were responsible for hackers getting access to many networks and mainframes. They were

God
Jesus
Love
Sex
Money
Power

I myself got into a mainframe thru a Sysadmin login with John316 as the password (back when I was a young stupid hacker) and while I never did anything damaging, I used this to "educate" the SysAdmin on changing his password. This whole password was ego based and the SysAdmins were totally unaware at just how vulnerable their systems were.

I personally never used any of those, my passwords were generally obscure. Login attempts from single IP's were limited to 3 tries. One I used was a line from an old movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" because it was 17 characters long and I susbstituted some numbers for letters (this messed up most random character-generators of the day).

K1aatu8arradaN1kt0
Klaatu Barrada Nikto

Never got hacked!!!

Lloyd

06-10-2008, 11:46 PM

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" I've got that movie :P

haven't seen it yet though.

Password yes, i never use an actual word if its something important that im trying to lock up, but for email or computer password it might be something easier

Lloyd

06-10-2008, 11:46 PM

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" I've got that movie :P

haven't seen it yet though.

Password yes, i never use an actual word if its something important that im trying to lock up, but for email or computer password it might be something easier

Filip Sebo

06-12-2008, 07:29 PM

I'm getting better with my passwords, they all used to be the same but now i mix them up a little and also add a few numbers in just to be sure.

Filip Sebo

06-12-2008, 07:29 PM

I'm getting better with my passwords, they all used to be the same but now i mix them up a little and also add a few numbers in just to be sure.